There's Always Time for Fireworks
by My5tic-Lali
Summary: "In case you haven't noticed, with Percy gone and Annabeth barely keeping it together, everyone's stressing out." "What can I do about it?" Based off Percy Jackson Headcanons 1288: At camp, whenever things got boring at night, Leo would make fireworks and entertain everyone. Leo-centric one-shot Pre-MoA


A/N: This is based off tumblr's Percy Jackson Headcanons ( http (colon) (dash) (dash) percy jackson headcanons.(tumblr).com(dash) )

_1288. at camp, whenever things got boring at night, Leo would make fireworks and entertain everyone._

* * *

Leo was exhausted.

Sure, it's easy enough to be excited about building a huge dragon-headed _trireme_ when the sun's shining and you just beat some evil snow goddess and foiled Gaea's plan, but it's a whole different story once you realize exactly how much work it takes to create it. Leo and the Hephaestus cabin had been at work constantly for five weeks now, and for every part they finished, two new problems cropped up. For one, no one could figure out why the engine Leo had designed kept exploding at random moments, or how the wires connecting Festus' head to the interface of the ship continually came undone, or why tools disappeared off the face of the earth every couple hours.

Slumped at his work-desk, surrounded by blueprints and tools, Leo unhappily tried to snap his brain out of the fog of exhaustion pulling it down. Unfortunately, his valiant efforts were interrupted by Nyssa, who marched up to him and announced "It's dinner. Me and the rest of the cabin are going." She waited hopefully, watching to see if Leo would move to follow. When he did not, Nyssa sighed and walked away, toward the pavilion.

At first, Nyssa and the rest of Cabin 9 had tried to force Leo to come eat at mealtimes, but soon realized it was hopeless when he wouldn't touch his food and ran off every five minutes to make sure nothing had exploded or to write down an idea. They had appealed to Piper and Jason, who had also tried to coax Leo into sitting down for more than ten minutes at a time, to no avail. Recently, they all just gave up and tried to make sure that when the son of Hephaestus finally _did_ crash from lack of sleep, it wouldn't be on anything liable to blow up.

Leo stayed hunched over his desk as all the other cabins filed past, headed towards the dining pavilion. He could hear strains of the other campers muted conversations, could practically _see_ their worried, drawn faces.

"...Annabeth heard from Grover..?"

"...found a gorgon in the woods last week..."

"...Chiron was talking about canceling Capture the Flag..."

"...looks like Thalia and the Hunters can't look for Percy any longer."

A louder, closer voice jerked Leo out of his brooding thoughts.

"You know that most people actually _eat_ at dinnertime?"

Leo spun around to face the red-headed camp Oracle, Rachel. "Only those who would dare bow to stereotypes!" Leo shot back, trying for his usual sarcastic smile.

Rachel gave a half-laugh and leaned against Leo's desk, surveying the scrambled papers and hasty notes. Her eyes were serious when she looked back to Leo.

"Everyone's stressed."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "No really?"

"Really." Rachel's eyes held no hint of humor. "Ever since the gods withdrew to Olympus and Percy disappeared, the whole camp has been freaking out."

"No need to tell me. I'm pretty much the King of Stress right now." Leo turned in exasperation to the skeleton the Argo II's hull. "I've got ten thousand problems and I haven't even finished building the mainframe! The weapons systems Nyssa was working on spontaneously blew up yesterday, putting us back at square one."

Rachel plowed on as though Leo hadn't spoken. "It doesn't help that Cabin Nine's counselor—and the main builder of the giant ship that's supposed to help us save the world—won't eat or sleep."

Leo turned to the mortal in confusion.

"In case you haven't noticed, people are looking to you for reassurance. You are supposed to know what you're doing, you're supposed to give us all good news."

"But I _don't_ know what I'm doing!" Leo replied, heatedly. He clenched his fists and stared angrily at the sky. "I'm just a fire-controlling teenager and I apparently have to save the world! I don't _have _good news to give!"

As soon as the outburst left his lips, Leo regretted it. He glanced at Rachel, but she just gazed steadily back. After a moment, Leo muttered, "Sorry," and looked back to his desk.

"I know that." Rachel said. "I know that everything is _not_ going fine and I know that you are stressed out. But everyone else is still looking to you. That's the thing about being in charge, you have to look like you know what you're doing when you are blundering around in the dark."

Leo dragged his eyes up to Rachel's, and sighed. "Then what am I supposed to do, Oh All-Knowing-Oracle?"

Rachel smiled. "For one," she said, sweeping her hand around to point at the crowded dining tables, "You leave your work and come eat with your cabin."

"But I can't leave the Argo II alone for that long! The-the engine will explode again or-"

"No it won't," Rachel cut Leo off, reaching out a placating hand at his outburst. "It'll be fine, I promise."

Changing tactics, Leo asked, "What all can I do? My whole cabin will freak out, and Piper will probably cry or do something equally girly, and Annabeth will kill me for taking even a minute break from the thing that will allow us to get her boyfriend back."

Rachel looked straight into Leo's eyes and said, absolutely straight-faced, "You can make us laugh."

Leo stared in dumbfounded amazement at the red-haired Oracle before bursting out in laughter. Once he had regained his composure, he smiled and asked "How will that help? If making the camp laugh was_ that_ helpful, I'd have been awarded 'Most-Helpful-of-the-Month' a long time ago."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You are missing the point."

"Then what _is_ the point?"

Sighing, Rachel replied "Have you not noticed? In addition to being stressed, we are all bored." In response to the son of Hephaestus' disbelieving glance, she continued, "It's true! With Percy gone and Annabeth barely keeping it together, we lost two of our leaders. Percy routinely set up random parties or Ping-Pong tournaments to keep the other campers entertained. Even the Stoll brothers have been dispirited lately, and they've been pranking a lot less frequently. The campers need something to snap us out of the rut we've been in since Percy was god-napped."

Leo exhaled slowly. He _had_ noticed how down-trodden the camp seemed, and how most campers spent more time training than hanging out. The whole valley felt oppressed and tired. Colors seemed less vibrant, and arguments cropped up more regularly. Laughter was less common, and everyone pretended to be enthusiastic about the campfires and Capture the Flag.

Finally, he shrugged. "How can I help with that?"

Rachel smiled. "I'm sure you'll think of something."

With no further preamble, she pushed herself up from her position on Leo's desk, and grabbed the mechanic's arm. She then headed to the pavilion, dragging the unresisting Leo behind her.

* * *

It took a couple hours to set up the surprise. Leo had rushed off to his cabin after dinner, and set to work immediately. Jason and Piper looked in after a short time, concerned looks on their faces. Leo waved them and their questions off with "I'll explain later! You'll see."

It was finally ready near the end of the campfire. The flames were low, a deep purple in color, and most campers were just sitting, oblivious to the Apollo Cabin's half-hearted attempts to keep the sing-along going. Travis Stoll was amusing himself by seeing how many marshmallows he could stuff into Clovis' open mouth, and Annabeth was bent over a book, looking tired and frazzled. Jason and Piper sat together, conversing quietly. Leo came up just as a couple Aphrodite campers rose to go back to their cabin, Drew in the lead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're leaving so early? The fun's just about to get started!" Leo cried, grabbing everyone's attention. Clovis jerked awake, and Annabeth looked up.

Glancing around at all the expectant faces, Leo smiled, the first true smile he had felt in a while. "Let's get started with the main event of this evening!"

He dramatically whipped out a remote from his toolbelt, and, after pausing for effect, pressed the biggest button in the middle. Immediately, a purple streak shot into the air by the lake, before exploding with a spectacular _BOOM!_

The next firework exploded in the shape of a jellyfish, and the next was a virtual rainbow, earning Leo an approving whoop from Butch. All the campers were on their feet now, and the campfire grew larger with each consecutive blast, as did the cheers.

The display lasted for a long while, and by the finale (each of the god's sybols all set off at once), the campfire was the largest Leo had seen it, at least fifteen feet tall and bright orange. The last explosion still rang in the air when Piper appeared out of nowhere and pulled him into a quick, tight hug. "That was just what we needed!" Her smile was wide, and behind her, Jason gave his friend a thumbs up. Annabeth and Chiron were smiling together at the other side of the fire.

Soon, Leo was swamped by the campers, all of whom wanted anther firework night next week, and petitions for a certain type to be repeated, or wanted to pat him on the back. The other groups were smiling and laughing animatedly, clearly cheered up. Leo felt his smile growing as he looked around at them, all his fellow demigods, his new family.

The chatter was interrupted by another eye-catching explosion, although this one came from the direction of the half-finished Argo II. Everyone froze, until Leo, catching Rachel's eye from across the circle, yelled, "'It won't blow up', you said!" Then ran, accompanied by Nyssa and half of the rest of Cabin Nine, still accusingly yelling over his shoulder.

"'I PROMISE', YOU SAID!"


End file.
